Two Many Doctors
by mystica88
Summary: Recently edited for mistakes and some suggestions I have gotten. House M.D. crossover with Doctor Who. Working on sequel that combines this one and Close Encounters of Three Kinds called Party of Five.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters I just like to use them**

A/N: So this is pretty off the wall. I was just reading some Dr. Who Fanfiction and some House M.D. and it just kind hit me, why not cross them? So this is my pitiful attempt at crossing realistic fiction with science fiction. Please review and I hope you enjoy.

P.S. It's Doctor number nine, just because I like him better.

**Chapter 1**

Dr. House had had about enough. His best friend had been avoiding him for weeks and he couldn't figure out why. Every time he saw Wilson, the man would mysteriously disappear down another hall or into the stairwell where House refused to go. To top it all off, the Oncologist had taken to leaving the hospital for lunches so House wasn't even able to catch the man in the cafeteria. Of course it didn't help any that over these last few weeks his leg had been giving him a lot more problems than usual. It seemed that even his own body was trying to keep him from talking to Wilson

House decided that this had gone on long enough. He knew that Wilson was currently in his office so the Diagonstian decided that now would be the perfect time to drop in on him. He was currently in his own office, but not for long. He got up and opened the sliding glass door to his balcony. Wilson's office was right next door with an adjourning balcony. This was one of House's favorite ways to get his friends attention to cross from one balcony to the other.

As he reached the other's glass door, he saw that Wilson had his hand on his office door and was preparing to leave. House quickly threw open the glass door and said, "Busted!"

Dr. Wilson nearly jumped a mile and dropped the brief case that had been in his hand. It seemed to take Wilson a minute to register who it was that had startled him. "House?" he asked.

"Who else would you expect at your balcony? Romeo?"

Wilson didn't have a reaction to the quip, he just stood there staring at his friend. "Oh come on Wilson, that was at least a little funny."

Wilson simply nodded and cracked a small false smile that disappeared faster then it had come. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Can't a guy drop in on his buddy and say hi?"

Wilson continued to stare at House basically expressionless. "Geez Wilson, what is your problem?" House demanded as he limped the rest of the way into the Oncologist's office. He boldly strolled over to Wilson's desk and plopped himself in the chair, leaned back, and propped his feet on the desk.

"Come on Wilson, You've been avoiding me for weeks. What's up?"

"Nothing. I have just had a lot of work to do and I'm on my way out right now," he said as he turned from House and walked out the door.

House sat there for a moment wondering what had just happened. Nothing about that encounter had felt right. Wilson seemed to be incredibly distant which wasn't like him. Wilson, though a very great guy, was not afraid to tell House exactly how he felt. He expected the same from House, but now it seemed as if he didn't even want anything to do with the man and wouldn't give a clue why.

House sat and thought for a moment, replaying the most recent scene through his mind. Wilson hadn't said much, but it struck House how, when he did talk, he didn't really even sound like his friend. The speach patterns and cadences just didn't line up with what he was used to. House frowned as he tried to wrap his brain around this new mystery. This seemed to be a case worthy of the great Dr. House to take on.

He nodded once to himself before he got up left. He went directly downstairs to the parking garage, just in time to see Wilson pulling out. He jumped on his bike and began to trail his friend.

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Meanwhile…

"Where are we going to now doctor?" Rose asked as the Doctor manned the TARDIS controls.

"I figured that we could use a little break for a while. Thought I'd take ya home."

"Oh thanks. I bet mum will be glad to see us," Rose said with a smile.

"Well at least one of us anyway," The Doctor grumbled. He knew that it was important for Rose to return home from time to time, but he also knew that her mum was not a fan of his and every time he brought her home, the woman managed to irritate him in whatever way she could.

There was a little shutter from the TARDIS and then they heard the hum of the vortex outside subside as they felt the TARDIS touch down.

"Alright, London here we come," The Doctor said as he strolled over to the door and flung it open.

The first thing he noticed was that there was no natural light as he had thought there would be. In fact, the space that he opened the door onto was very dimly lit. It seemed that the TARDIS was currently in a large room that was tiled from floor to ceiling in green ceramic tile. There were several stainless steel tables down the center of the room as well as many stainless steel doors along the walls.

The Doctor stepped out and took in the sight of the room. Rose was close behind him. "What's this?" she asked.

The Doctor looked around for a moment longer before turning to her saying, "I think we're in a morgue."

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Dr. House followed Wilson's car at a distance. It wouldn't do any good for the man to notice that he was being followed; that would just take all the fun out of it. House noticed that they were heading towards the other's apartment, which really didn't sound like it was going to be a very revealing adventure.

As they reached the apartment, House realized that Wilson had not pulled into the parking garage but rather into a short ally that ran beside his apartment. House parked his bike so he could just see as Wilson got out of the car and walked a short distance further down the ally. He walked up to a stairway that led down to an old storage basement that was below his apartment. House never heard of Wilson, or anyone from his complex for that matter, using the dilapidated basement. Maybe this wasn't going to be such a fruitless quest after all…

"A morgue?" Rose said somewhat disgusted. "What we here for?"

"I've no idea. This was not where I intended to be. Seems the TARDIS had other plans for us," He said as he eyed his ship/ police box that sat silently in the back corner of the room.

"Well, guess we should have a look. We should at least find out where we're at," Rose said.

The Doctor nodded and made his way to the other side of the room where he could just make out the door. They walked up and paused at it just long enough for the Doctor to determine if there was anyone else about. He didn't think it would be any good for them to be caught sneaking around in a morgue without permission.

After not hearing any sounds, he cracked the door a bit and took a peak outside, all was clear.

He reflexively reached back his hand and took hold of Rose's as he led the way into the hall outside. They quietly made their way down a dim corridor until they came to a stairway. They cautiously entered it and began their ascent.

As they came to the first floor and decided that this would be a good place to begin their explorations. Stepping out, they found a place full of light and sound. People were everywhere, but there seemed to be a silent order to all of the activity. They stood there for a moment taking it all in.

"We're in a hospital," Rose stated.

"Appears so. Looks like the TARDIS thought they could use another doctor around here," he said with his huge grin. Rose just shook her head at his strange sense of humor and began to wander a little further away to investigate the place.

The Doctor let go of her hand and walked off at an angel from her towards a large circle desk that was near by. "Excuse me," he said to the woman behind the desk. "I'm sorry, but could you tell me what hospital this is?" he asked smiling at the woman.

"Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital," the lady answered readily. If she thought it was strange that the man didn't know where he was, she didn't show it.

"Ah, thanks," he answered and returned to Rose's side.

"Well, we're definitely not in London," he said to her.

"How do you know?" she asked as she looked through a glass door that led into another section of the hospital. Big red letters on the door proclaimed that it was a clinic.

"Can't you hear it? Not a lick of proper dialect among them. All this American drawl grates on my ears."

Rose smiled. "Now you mention it, it is rather funny sounding," she admitted.

"Question is, what was so important about this American hospital that the TARDIS decided to bring us here for?" he said.

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House sat there in surveillance for nearly a half hour before he watched Wilson come up from the basement once again and get back into his car. He watched as the doctor left and didn't even notice him sitting there. Wilson was obviously not very concerned about being stalked. And that was another thing that didn't seem right. Wilson would know better if he was trying to hide something from House to take much more caution. Wilson, beyond any other, knew best how determined House could be if he felt there was something that he was missing.

House watched as Wilson pulled away and waited for the car to turn the corner before he got off his bike and prepared to go and investigate the basement that he had just watched his friend come from. He hadn't taken more than two steps before his cell rang. Cursing himself for not having left it behind, he pulled it out and answered it, "House."

"House, where the hell are you?" Cuddy's voice grated on the other end. House winced.

"Why Cuddy, if you needed some booty call, why didn't you just call me earlier? I'm not psychic you know."

"Shove it House. You haven't done a thing all day but hide in your office and you don't have any cases right now. You should have been in the clinic hours ago and now you've disappeared altogether. So I repeat, where the hell are you?'

"Sorry mom, I just stepped out for a bite of lunch. I'll be back in about an hour."

"No you damn well better be back here in less then twenty minutes or I'm going to triple the time that you need to spend in the clinic for the rest of the month. Got it?"

House rolled his eyes as he let out an exaggerated sigh, "Yes Mother," he said as he disconnected. He gave one last glancing look at the basement entrance before he got back on his bike and headed back to PPTH.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Guess we should start investigating," Rose said.

"Looks like," the Doctor responded as he began to walk away from Rose again.

"Maybe you should scan for alien tech as a start," she suggested.

He hated it when she was right, but it did seem like a place to start. He pulled out a small device form his leather jacket pocket and began to punch some buttons as he stared at the screen. Once again, he began to walk away, but now Rose stayed somewhat close to him as he scanned the area.

She realized that The Doctor was heading to the entrance to start with. Apparently he was going to be as thorough as possible… start with the entrance and go from there. They were still a few feet away from the glass doors, (_was everything glass around here_?) when The Doctor paused and pulled Rose to the side as he continued to aim his scanner out of the door. They watched as a well-dressed blond haired man came in through the doors. Rose looked over the Doctor's shoulder at his scanner and saw that a light was blinking right where the man was. They watched as the man walked out of the field of the scanner, the blinking dot following after him across the screen until he had passed out of range.

They exchanged a look before they left they're spot against the wall and began to follow after the man who seemed to have something that he shouldn't

But they were so intent on their quarry that they completely missed the next man who came through the door next. The three of them collided, knocking both Rose and the rather tall, cane carrying man flat on the floor.

"Wow, what a way to treat a cripple," the man said indignantly, glaring at The Doctor and Rose.

The Doctor ignored the obviously bad tempered man and reached his hand down to help Rose to her feet once again. "And such manners. Knock a guy down and don't even offer to help him up again," he complained and he used his cane to help lever himself from the floor.

"I'm sorry," Rose said. "We didn't see you there," she said.

"No need to apologize to him Rose. He wasn't watching where he was going either."

"Oh great, a couple of high horse Brits," House said as he began to walk on by. "I should have known today was not going to be my day when I spotted that black cat this morning."

"You're one to talk," The Doctor said as the man with the cane stalked on by them.

House stopped and turned back to them as he asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Calling us high horsed Brits when you're obviously just as much one too," The Doctor answered coolly.

House glared at them for a moment before deciding to ignore them and continued on his way to the dreaded clinic.

"Doctor, what are you talking about?" Rose asked him quietly.

House stopped and turned back, "Doctor? As if there aren't enough pompous Doctors around here already, we get another British bloke in here. I thought Chase was more than enough."

The Doctor smiled at him. "Bloke, such an American word, wouldn't you say Rose?"

Rose just looked on, rather confused about the whole thing. "I have one question though," The Doctor asked House.

"Just one?"

"For now anyway. Why do you try and hide who you are? It's obvious that you're not as pure blood American as you claim. Oh sure, you hide your accent well, but there's still the subtitle undertones and the way you carry yourself, you practically scream British."

House stared back at The Doctor and his smug grin and couldn't help but crack a slight smile himself. Who was this man who seemed to be able to read him like no other person ever could?

But House didn't have time to play these games with some want to be doctor. He just turned and walked directly into the clinic. The Doctor and Rose just heard him say as he walked in, "Dr. House reports in for clinic duty at 12:05, write that down please."

Rose looks at The Doctor, "that man's a doctor?" she said.

"Seems there's more than one secretive Doctor in the universe," The Doctor said as he pulled his eyes from the man that they had been talking to and turned to try and find the other that they had been attempting to follow. But the second man was gone as well.

"I'll bet that the other guy was a doctor as well. He walked in with a purpose and had a brief case. I doubt that he was a patient by the way he just strolled in here."

Rose shook her head. "You know, being in a hospital with you is going get to be confusing," she said as she followed after him. He had pulled out the scanner once again and was searching for that alien technology that he had picked up earlier. No matter what rude, secretive, sarcastic doctors they met along the way, there was at least one who had something that didn't belong on this planet or at this time and it was his job to find it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The Doctor and Rose patrolled the halls, searching for another blip on the scanner. They were pretty well convinced that their quarry was no longer on the first floor, so they progressed to the second and began their search all over again.  
"There must be a way to widen the scanner field," Rose complained. "This is going to take forever."

The Doctor sighed. She was right, again. He knew that he could probably make the scanner a bit more powerful, but that just took all the adventure out of it. But since he had promised her a day off, he figured that it would be good to hurry up and close this case so they could return to London for while.

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and began tinkering with his scanner. "You mean to say you could of made it more powerful the whole time?" Rose asked shocked.

"Well, that wouldn't be as much fun now would it?" he said with a smile.

Rose rolled her eyes and waited impatiently for The Doctor to finish his tinkering.

"Just a little bit here and… there. That should do it," he proclaimed as he pocketed his screwdriver once again and brought the scanner up to use.

He swept the scanner in a wide circle before he proclaimed, nope, not on this floor.

"That's it then? We spent the last two hours covering the first floor when all you had to do was tinker for a few minutes to get it to scan all at once?"

"Told you. Takes all the fun out of it," He smiled wickedly.

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House had finally escaped the clinic after only two hours of work. Well, actually it had been closer to a half hour of work, another hour and a half of hiding out in the exam rooms playing his gameboy. He had just stepped off the elevator to return to his office when he noticed those two weirdos from earlier walking in that direction from the stair way.

"I'm going to think that I have a couple of stalkers here," House said as he approached his office. They seemed rather startled by his appearance and it looked as though the man was trying to hide something that he had been looking at before House said something. They were standing right outside of Wilson's office and they looked as if they had were a couple of kids with their hand caught in the cookie jar. What were they all about?

"Oh, it'd be you again," the man said as he saw who it was that had said something.

"I could say the same thing. What are you two doing here? As much as it pains me to say it, I doubt that you're just a couple of big fans of the famous Dr. Greg House. Though I wouldn't blame you if you were."

Just then Cuddy appeared out of nowhere. "House!" she bellowed from down the hall.

"Oh look, here comes one of those fans right now," House said as he turned to watch the approaching Dean.

"Just what are you doing up here again? I thought I told you to go to the clinic?"

"I did. Put in my time for the day and now I'm off to enjoy some well-earned slacking. At least I was until I ran into these two stalker friends of mine," he said indicating Rose and The Doctor.

"We're not stalking him," Rose said,

"Hello, I'm Th… I'm Doctor Smith. This is my intern, Rose Tyler. We're here conducting an inspection of your fine hospital," he said in as smooth a voice as he could while pulling out his psychic paper and flashing it for both House and Cuddy to see.

House glanced at it and seemed about to make some snide comment when he was stunned by what Cuddy said. "Oh, the CDC! I had no idea that you were coming," she said rather alarmed.

House stared at her for a moment, completely shocked. Apparently he didn't think that her reaction was entirely proper.

He stood there as Cuddy properly shook hands with the strange man and apologized for Dr. House's behavior. He heard her saying something about how he really was a brilliant doctor, just not much of a person.

The man and woman seemed in a hurry to get rid of them and Cuddy could tell. She told them that anything they need while they were there, just let her know and she'd take care of them and then left them to their own devises. House was not so easily gotten rid of though.

He watched as Cuddy left and then turned a penetrating glare on the man in front of him. He got dangerously close to The Doctor's face and looked him square in the eye as he said in as menacing a voice as he could, "I don't know who you are or where you came from, but I am giving you five seconds to explain why the hospital dean just left here believing that that blank piece of paper you just showed her said you were from the CDC."

Rose gave a small gasp from where she stood behind The Doctor who was measuring up House in front of him. He was as stunned as Rose was to hear that his psychic paper hadn't worked on the man, but he wasn't going to let on.

"What do you mean?" he asked innocently.

"You know exactly what I mean," House breathed. "One… Two…"

"And what are you going to do to me?"

"Start by severing your little toe from your foot," House said as he placed the tip of his cane on The Doctor's shoe precisely above his small toe and began to apply pressure. "Three…" a little more, this time rather painful pressure.

The Doctor didn't wince, but he wanted to. He had no doubt that this man wasn't joking anymore.

"Alright, but can we talk somewhere more private?" The Doctor conceded. It wasn't that he was really afraid of this man, it was more that things could probably go a bit more smoothly if they had him working on their side. That, and he wanted to know how it was that this human was unaffected by his technology.

House nodded once as he lifted his cane and walked the few feet to his office. He opened the door, and signaled for the two to enter before him. The Doctor and Rose exchanged a look before they followed after House and entered into the conference room attached to his personal office.

This was not going to be easy…


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Now, I ask again, who are you?" House says in a near whisper as the door closes behind him.

"You know, you might as well drop the show, we already know where you're from," The Doctor said.

"Oh I'm sorry. I guess you need to hear things in your own language to understand… 'oo da bloody 'ell are you blokes?" he said in a very heavy British accent.

"Fine, play it your way. This is Rose Tyler, as I mentioned before. And I am The Doctor."

"_The_ Doctor? And I thought I was cocky," He answered once again in his normal voice.

"No, that's really what he's called… Just The Doctor," Rose said.

House rolled his eyes and said, "Fine, whatever. Sounds like your parents were real fond of you," He said with heavy sarcasm. "Now how about you explain to me what's going on here, or do I have to go find some Sodium Pentothal?"

"Ah, good old truth serum. Sorry wouldn't work with me."

"It doesn't work anyway," House said rolling his eyes. "Now tell me what I want to know now or I will carry through on my threat, but I won't stop with your toe."

"Alright then. I'm an alien who travels though space and time, saving the universe, making things right, and being a generally all around good guy."

Rose tried to hide a smile behind her hand. After centuries of having to explain himself to people, you'd think he would have gotten better at it.

House stared at him for a moment before saying, "you know, I might have been wrong about you two. I think that it would be best to send you on to the psych ward. I can refer you to several decent shrinks if you like."

"What, don't believe me? Fine, here," The Doctor said as he reached behind him and grabbed a stethoscope from the counter behind him. He held it out to House. House walked over and took it but didn't do anything else. "Go ahead, take a listen. I'm sure you'll find it interesting," he said as pulled his jacket away from his chest.

"What, all this is so you can get a check up?" House said with an amused grin.

"Here," the Doctor said as he took the end of the stethoscope and placed it against the right side of his chest and indicated that House should listen.

Rolling his eyes, House put the ends into his ears and closed his eyes as he listened. He distinctly heard the strong rhythm of a heart beating, everything sounded fine, except…

What was that? A murmur? It sounded like there was a second beat in between the pulses of the first. He opened his eyes and looked at the Doctor and was about to say something when the man moved the diaphragm from his right side to his left.

House's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he realized that it wasn't a murmur that he had heard, it was a second heartbeat. He could clearly hear this second heart now that the scope was right overtop of it…

Second heart?

"What the hell?" he said as he pulled the stethoscope out of his ears and let it fall to the floor.

"I told you… Alien."

The Doctor and Rose watched as Dr. House pulled out a bottle of pills from his pocket and began examining the label. "No, definitely Vicodin. But maybe someone got the pills wrong," and he popped the top and emptied a few of the white pills into his hand. He pushed them around with his finger as he carefully studied them. "Huh, that's not it. Must be something else wrong with me. Maybe I overdosed, though I don't remember taking more than usual."

"You're not hallucinating, he really is an alien," Rose said.

"I'm sorry, but I don't talk to delusions. Makes people think I'm crazy," he said as he poured all but two pills back into their bottle and dropped it back into his pocket as he swallowed the two pills.

"Fine, you wanted to know who and what we are, and now you're going to ignore us when we tell you. Guess that means we can go on our way then," The Doctor said as he went to walk by House to leave.

House stuck out his cane and blocked the Doctor's path. He just looked at him for a moment before he said, "Alright, let's pretend for a second that I believe you, why are you here in Jersey?"

"Jersey as in New Jersey? So that's where we are," The Doctor said.

"You're supposed to be an advanced alien capable of space travel and you don't even know where you are?"

"Well we hadn't exactly expected to come here. We were supposed to have been in London," Rose said.

"Great," House scoffed. "An alien who's supposed to save the universe can't even tell the difference between London and Jersey."

"It wasn't my fault," the Doctor defended. "But if you don't want our help, we'll be on our way."

"You haven't said what you're here for. How am I supposed to know if I want, or even need, your help?"

"We're not sure why we came here. Our ship is able to tell when we're needed somewhere and it'll sometimes take us there without us knowing. That's how we didn't know where we were," Rose explained.

"So I have two British sounding aliens in my office telling me that they were kidnapped by a spaceship and don't know why, but they are sure that I need their help somehow? Do have all this right?"

"Yup, that's about the whole of it, other than the part about two aliens. I'm the only one here who isn't human." the Doctor nodded with a silly grin as he stuck his hands into his pockets.

House looked at them for a minute before he nodded and said, "Alright."

"Alright? You mean you believe us then?" Rose said.

"Nope, I mean, alright I think I should go and have an MRI because clearly I am not really having this conversation."

"Fine, ignore us, don't care really. We're just going to go next door and find out why my scanner tells me that there is alien technology in there that doesn't belong here and be on our way," the Doctor said as he made his way to the door once again.

"Next door? Wilson's office?"

"I believe that was the name on it that I read before you interrupted us. So good day Dr. House, I hope your MRI goes well."

"Wait a second," House said. He wasn't sure why in the world he believed these people, but he needed to figure it all out.

The Doctor paused once again. He wasn't sure why he was allowing this silly human to slow him up, but he did find him a rather interesting being. And he still hadn't figured out why the paper hadn't worked on him yet. He had to be something a little special as far as humans go for that to happen.

"Why would Wilson have alien technology?" House said mostly to himself as he sat on the top of the conference table. He wasn't going to waist time asking these people questions since he was completely convinced that they were not telling him the truth, like everyone else. He needed time to think it all out for himself, make the connections and come up with the solution.

"Don' know, that's why we're going find out," the Doctor said as he opened the door and walked out.

"Wait. I'm not sure why Wilson would have that, but he has been acting weird lately," House decided to tell them.

The Doctor paused in the doorway and then came back into the room, looking at House. "Weird how?" he asked.

"He has been avoiding me for the past few weeks," House started.

"Oh, gee, I wonder why anyone would want to avoid you," Rose sarcastically whispered under her breath.

"For most people, that might be true, but Wilson has never avoided me. We're friends, in fact he's probably the only one who can stand me," House said.

"Alright then. What else?" the Doctor asked.

"Finally caught him this morning and he just wasn't acting right. Didn't get my jokes, didn't seem very responsive at all and he didn't sound right either. His speech patterns were all wrong. So I followed him when he left for lunch today."

"You followed your friend? Can't just respect his privacy?" Rose asked.

"Hey, never claimed to be a good friend, just that were are friends."

"Where'd he go?" the Doctor asked, not really interested in anything else.

"His apartment."

"That's all? You think that he's acting strange cause he went to his apartment for lunch?" Rose said.

"I didn't say he went into his apartment," House snapped at her. "He went down an ally next to it and went into a basement that no one there uses that I'm aware of. A while later he came back up and went back to work."

The Doctor seemed to think for a while. "Alright, let's go there," he declared.

"But he's right next door, why go all the way there when you could just see him now?" Rose asked.

"Because it doesn't sound right to me. I want to see what he's hiding down there so I can get a better idea of what we're dealing with," The Doctor explained.

Rose nodded and said, "Alright, let's go."

"No, I need you to stay here and make sure that he doesn't leave the hospital while we're gone," The Doctor said.

"What?" Rose was rather hurt that she couldn't go too.

"Rose, I don't want to be surprised by him while we're there poking about in his secrets. I need you to stay and warn us if he decided to head home. Alright?"

"I guess," she said, knowing that he was right, but still hating being left behind.

"Alright, let's go then… Doctor," House said as he got up and walked out the door, leaving the Doctor to follow.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Dr. House felt kind of weird with a strange man riding behind him on his motorcycle, but then again, the whole day was strange. Normally, if House had needed to take a passenger somewhere from work, he would just steel Wilson's car, but today that didn't sound like a very good idea since it was him who they were going to spy on.

They soon came to the ally that House had seen his friend go down earlier. They both got off the bike and House led the Doctor to the entrance to the basement. When they reached the entrance, House found that there was a rusty pad lock holding the door closed.

He was about to break it with his cane when the Doctor stopped him. "Here, I've got this one," he said as he stepped in front of House and pulled something out of his jacket pocket.

House couldn't see what it was but he saw a strange blue light and heard a slight hum and then all of a sudden the lock popped open.

"Oh that's cool. Need to get one of those," House said.

The Doctor turned and waved the small silver cylinder as he smiled and said, "Sonic screwdriver, never leave home without it."

Then he turned and went through the door. It led down another flight of stairs. House watched as the Doctor disappeared down the darkened stairway and rolled his eyes, of course there had to be more stairs. He sighed and began his careful and painful decent into the gloomy room.

The basement was near black in light level and had very rickety wooden stair leading into it. The place was all brick and was rather cool and dank. It smelled of water and mold; not a place that House really felt like being in right then. For that matter, he couldn't figure why Wilson would want to be coming down here.

He finally reached the floor a few paces behind the Doctor. He watched as the Doctor reached up pulled on a chain that was attached to a light bulb on the ceiling. A dim flicker and then a weak light came forth from the bulb. Even the light bulb seemed to not like this basement very much.

The Doctor glanced around and all he saw was clutter and old forgotten odd and ends items. There was a large rickety wooden table in the center and piles of what could only be called junk everywhere else. He pulled out his scanner as he noticed that Dr. House was beginning to poke around in the piles of stuff.

"So, I get the impression that you didn't know why I didn't see what you wanted on the blank piece of paper," House said.

"Yeah. Truth is, never happened before," Doctor admitted. Maybe now he'd get to find out about that.

"How's it supposed to work anyway?"

"Well it's a touch psychic. I usually prompt something for the person before I show it to them and then they see what they expect. Like with Dr. Cuddy, I mentioned I was there to inspect the hospital, she saw I was from the CDC."

"Well that must be why it didn't work," House said.

"Why's that?"

"I expected whatever it was to be a lie, and so it had nothing to show me."

The Doctor paused and stared at him. This was a very intriguing human, he decided.

Just then they heard the slightest of moans and a tiny click of metal. House and the Doctor exchanged a look before the Doctor said, "Hello?"

There was the muffled moan again; it was coming from the back of the room, in the darkest corner. They peered over there but all they could see was something white. Quickly House led the way over to the object. As he got next to it, he saw that it was a white sheet draped over what appeared to be a human form. His throat went dry as he knelt down next to the sheet on his left knee and pulled the sheet off.

At first, all he could tell was that it was some human form below him. It was a man dressed rather nicely, or would have been if it wasn't for the dirt and filth and smears of blood that covered him. The arms were exposed and covered in bruises and cuts. They both were at odd angles showing that there were broken bones.

The face looked just as battered. The cheeks and jaw were all swollen and it appeared that there were bruises on top of bruises. There was a blindfold over the eyes and a gag tied around the mouth.

House was slightly horrified by the sight but quickly got over the nausea that threatened to take hold when he saw that the man was still breathing, albeit shallowly. He immediately went into doctor mode. He pulled out his cell and tossed it back to the Doctor. "Here, number 3 is the hospital. Have them send an ambulance," he instructed as he turned back to his patient. The man seemed to rouse slightly out of whatever pain induced stupor he had been in. He slightly turned his head to face the sound of House's voice.

House began to get nervous again, there was defintely something familiar about this broken body before him. He reached down and untied the blindfold, carefully removing it so as to cause as little pain as possible.

When he caught sight of the rapidly blinking eyes of the man, he nearly fell back with shock. _Not possible_, he thought. But there he was, the man who they were sure was sitting perfectly fine in his office back at PPTH, James Wilson.

"Wilson?" he asked breathlessly, still too shocked to do anything.

The man blinked his pain filled eyes once as a tear began to roll down his battered face.

House quickly removed the gag as he noticed that Wilson was also chained to the floor by his wrists and ankles. "It's alright buddy, help is on the way," he distantly heard himself saying as he worked the hard knot of the gag.

As soon as he got it free he heard his friend weakly croak his name as if he didn't believe that it really was him.

"Yeah Jimmy, it really me. I'm gonna get you out here. Just hold on a little longer."

The Doctor came over again after making the phone call. "They're on their way," he said. "Is that Doctor Wilson?" he asked as he looked down at the battered man.

"Yeah. How about you use your little gizmo and get these chains off of him," House said as he got out of the way for the Doctor to work.

The Doctor nodded and knelt down beside Wilson, pulling out the sonic screwdriver once again. House had moved so that he was at Wilson's head and was using his hands as a pillow for the man who had had his head lying on the cold cement floor for who knew how long.

But as the Doctor moved to release Wilson, the man tried to pull back from him, eliciting a pain fill moan with the movement.

"It's alright buddy, he's here to help. Just let him get those chains off you alright?" House said.

Wilson blinked once, in too much pain to say anything or even nod his head. House watched as his friend began to cry silently again. "I know, I know… It hurts. We're gonna get you better. Don't worry," House kept saying. He wasn't really being very articulate right now, but he was so shaken by the sight of his friend in so much pain he couldn't think what else to do.

It only took a minute for the Doctor to have the chains free and they heard the approaching sirens.

"I've got to call Rose, make sure that the other Dr. Wilson is where he should be," the Doctor said.

"How the hell can there be two of them?!" House growled.

"I can explain later, right now we need to get your friend out of here," was the reply. He got up and pulled his own phone from his jacket pocket and walked a little ways away to call Rose.

House's head was reeling. Two Wilsons? Did that mean that his friend had been down here since he noticed that Wilson was acting strange? Maybe longer? It seemed amazing that the man was even still alive. He could still hear himself muttering reassurances to the crying Wilson, but he wasn't even paying attention to his awkward words anymore. He was too busy running through what was needed to get his friend patched up.

He looked the man over and saw that not only were both arms broken, he suspect that both legs were as well. And, depending on when they were broken, they could have already begun to heal improperly. That meant surgery.

But the first thing was painkiller, and a lot. He could tell that the pain was the main thing that had him so scared. Wilson, normally a well-tempered man, seemed to almost tremble just from the light touch that House was giving. It seemed that every nerve was just on edge, raw with pain. What kind of thing would do something like this?

It was then that the paramedics arrived. House looked up at them and began to issue orders. He had just gotten through telling them to use Haldol and make sure they had a neck brace and barked out to the nearest one to give him a penlight when he noticed that all of the commotion was upsetting Wilson again.

"Hey, calm down. We're gonna get you to the hospital and fix you up, ok?"

Wilson stared at him for a minute before he visibly calmed down again. House wasn't sure what it was that had scared him, but he was obviously going to trust House to take care of him now.

One of the EMT's handed House the penlight that he had asked for as another arrived with the Haldol. House began to check for any signs of neurological damage and was relieved to see that Wilson's pupils were behaving as they should. It appeared that the pounding that he had received was not enough to give a concussion; that at least was one good thing. There were already far too many other things that they were going to have to address.

House backed away as he allowed the EMT's to get Wilson moved and strapped onto the stretcher they had brought. He heard the gasp of pain from his friend as they moved him, but he was sure that it could have been a lot more painful if they hadn't used the Haldol first. He watched as, even through the pain, Wilson began to drift off into a bit of sleep.

House and the Doctor stood together, watching them carry the man up the stairs and to the waiting ambulance.

As soon as the men were out the door, House said to the Doctor without even turning to look at him, "You mind explaining to me why my friend was just taken out of here on a stretcher after who knows how long of torture?"

The Doctor sighed before answering, "My guess would be a Gleryth," he answered.

House spun around and fixed the other man with a smoldering gaze. The Doctor had been faced by many angry and pissed off people in his day, but the strength of this man's stare nearly caused him to take a step back… nearly.

"Yes, that makes all the sense in the world to me," House barked at him. "Gleryth, oh I get it." He spun around and angrily took a few paces away before he turned back and continued his rant. "Let's pretend for a second that I am not at all familiar with your world of space travel. Let's assume that I have never heard of anything outside of this planet and have never heard of anything that could make an exact duplicate of another person while he tortured the original. Let's just pretend that I know absolutely nothing about why an alien might have shown up in my place of work and then come with me to discover that my best friend has been reduced to a broken mass of human flesh!"

The Doctor stood there calmly. He wore a grave express and simply allowed the angry man to vent. He knew that this was all a bit much for anyone to suddenly take in and was allowing House the opportunity to release some of his rage.

"Feel better?" he asked as House's rant came to an end and he stood there, breathing heavily while leaning on his cane, staring back at the Doctor. He didn't make any answer to the question, but the Doctor could see that he was at least a little more level headed now.

"I can, and will explain everything to you. But right now we have to get back to the hospital before the other Wilson finds out that he has been discovered."

House heaved a sigh before shaking his head and heading back up the steps. He hated being kept in the dark about all of this, but he saw the sense in not wasting time. He didn't want this thing to escape anymore than the Doctor did. In fact, he was hoping to get a few shots of his own in before the Doctor did whatever he was going to do with it.

They both hurried back to the hospital, hoping that the creature didn't hear about his counter part being in the ER before they got there.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"He's what?" Rose asked as she got the call from the Doctor.

"Rose, just stay away from it. Gleryth are very dangerous creatures and they have the ability to assume whatever form they wish. I just want to you to stay out of its way and let me know if it goes anywhere. And try and keep anyone else from it if you can. We don't need someone letting it know that we have it figured," the Doctor replied.

"Just how do you expect me to do that then?" she demanded.

"I know you'll think of something Rose. Just, be careful," and with that the Doctor hung up.

"Fat chance, that," Rose said to herself as she put her phone back in her pocket. She stood in the hallway, eyeing the door to Dr. Wilson's office. He hadn't come out yet, so she assumed that he was still there. She just hoped that things would stay that way until the Doctor got back. It wasn't going to do any good to have the thing wondering about while his look alike was brought in by an ambulance. Might cause a little concern among the other doctors.

But of course, being that it was her luck, just then the door opened and Dr. Wilson, or his look a like anyway, stepped out. He began to stroll down the hall to the elevator. Rose tried to be inconspicuous as she followed the man. She walked on by the elevator as the doors were closing and then stopped and watched which floor it went to. It went down to the first floor. Of course, right where they would be bringing the other Dr. Wilson in soon.

She rushed to the stairs and ran down, hurrying to not lose the man. She reached the ground floor and took a breath, trying to steady herself once again after her jog down the stairs before opening the door. She stepped out and saw the man walking towards the clinic. It appeared that this thing was at least trying to keep up appearances that he was Dr. Wilson. It would become rather suspicious if he suddenly stopped seeing patients, Rose thought. Of course she didn't know that was what House did every day.

She watched as the man entered the clinic and picked up a stack of patient files and began to go about his business. She decided that maybe the best way to keep an eye on him was to become one of the patients. She walked into the clinic and checked herself in, all the time keeping an eye on the room that the man had just went into.

She sat down in the waiting room and continued to watch the door. After a few minutes, she suddenly heard a scream of pain from what sounded like a child from that room. She jumped up to see what was wrong when a nurse grabbed her arm and said, "Don't worry. The child had a broken arm. It's usually pretty painful to have it set back into place."

Rose just nodded and sat back down. "I wouldn't worry any. Dr. Wilson is really a great doctor. He's not going to purposefully set about causing anyone pain."

The Nurse turned and walked away but Rose thought she heard her saying under her breath, "But that Dr. House…"

Rose thought how Dr. House might be a crass and cynical man, but she was sure that right now, the one they all thought was Dr. Wilson was much, much worse than anything House could be.

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Right as House and the Doctor reached the hospital, House's cell rang.

"What?" he demanded.

"House, they just brought Wilson in. He looks like he's in bad shape," Cameron's voice echoed down the line.

"I know, I was the one who found him. I just got here. I'll be there in a moment.

"What happened?" Cameron asked.

"I'll tell you later, bye," he said and hung up on her. "Ok, the rest of the hospital is going to know about this in no time," he announced to the Doctor.

"We're going to have to get to the other Wilson before he finds out."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that," House answered as he walked into the hospital.

The Doctor pulled out his phone and called Rose again. "Hello?" she said.

"Rose, we're here. Where is the other at?"

"Oh hi dear, I wasn't feeling too good so I went to the clinic," she answered.

"What? Rose what's going on?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm with Dr. Wilson right now."

"Damn it Rose, I thought I told you to stay away from him!"

"We just started, I'll probably be here for a while yet," she answered.

"We'll be there in a minute," he said as he hung up the phone. "She's in the clinic with him right now," he said as he began to pick up his pace, passing House on the way to the clinic.

"Whoa, wait up there, Doctor. It's going to look a little strange to have you burst into the room. On the other hand, I'm notorious for it. You wait in the waiting room, I'll take care of this," House smiled as he passed the Doctor again right as the reached the entrance to the clinic.

"House, you don't know what you're walking into," he said, but House wasn't paying him any attention anymore.

"Barbara, what room is Dr. Wilson in right now?" House asked the nurse behind the desk.

"Room three," she answered without looking up from her stack of paper work. It was just Dr. House again going to pester his friend and interrupt yet another examination. There was really no point in trying to stop him she knew.

House began to head to room three with the Doctor close behind him. "House, you can't go in there alone, you have no idea what this thing is capable of."

"Other than torture and being able to assume someone else's form, you're right, I don't. All I know is that he will become suspicious if you burst in there and pull your girlfriend out of harms way. Where as if I go in there, everything will seem perfectly fine and I can think of a way to get her out without him thinking anything is up."

The Doctor stared at House for a second. He didn't like it. He was putting Rose's safety in the hands of another man. A man he knew almost nothing about. But the man also had a point. "Fine, but I'm going to be right here. If I so much as think that anything is going wrong I'll be in there," he said.

House nodded and confidently strolled into the room.

"Wilson! There you are. Been looking all over for you," the Doctor heard House say before the door closed behind him. He didn't trust this man, but there wasn't much else he could do.

So he leaned against the wall and tried to listen to what was going on inside. But as he was listening, he heard something else. It seemed that news had spread about as fast as House had predicted. He could hear the nurse at the station saying to another nurse who had just come up and been talking to her, "That can't be right. Dr. Wilson is in room three right now. He's with a patient and I think Dr. House just went in there too."

_Fantastic,_ The Doctor thought sarcastically to himself.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"House, what are you doing here?" the Wilson look alike asked as the other closed the door behind him.

"Can't a guy just drop by and see his friend who's been avoiding him?" House said.

"House, I'm with a patient."

"Fine, what's wrong with you?" he asked Rose. She looked at him like he was mad but was able to stutter out, "Sore throat and headache."

"Boring. Allergies. Go home, take a Benadyl and one of these," he said as he took out his Vicodin and handed her a pill.

"Now get going so I can talk to my friend," he said. She looked from him to the other and then nodded and left the room.

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"House, I'm not in the mood right now," the look alike said as he turned around to face House.

He saw that the man had dropped all pretense of comradery and was glaring daggers at the look alike. "Neither am I," he said in a deadly whisper.

"House, what's wrong?" Wilson answered as he backed up a step.

"Something pretty strange happened to me today… I found my friend who had been tortured and chained a basement floor. Looks like he'd been that way for a while. You would happen to know what that was all about do you?"

At first, the other looked very nervous and rather anxious about the encounter, but then, when he realized that he was truly caught, he settled and smiled smoothly at House.

"So, you found me out. Good, he had nearly run out of use for me anyway. Although I am rather disappointed that I'm going to have to kill you now since you I'll never run out of use for."

"I'd like to see you try," House answered as he prepared to take a viscous swing at the creature with his cane. But for some reason, his leg erupted in pain at that moment and he collapsed on the floor. As he gripped his leg, he could just make out a hazy form of what looked like tentacles wrapped around his thigh. He gasped as another terrible wave of pain swept through his leg.

He looked up at the other and was no longer looking at the image of his friend. In fact, he had no idea what it was he was looking at. It was still vaguely in human form, but there were no features to it at all. It looked as if the man who had been standing there had been covered in bronzy liquid goo. The surface rippled as the form seemed to glide closer to House. He could see that the tentacles that were wrapped around his leg were coming from this thing.

Suddenly another, even more excruciating wave of pain rushed through his thigh, forcing a strangled scream from his lips. He had never felt pain like this from his leg. True, he lived with constant chronic pain, but this was worse than anything he had felt before.

Suddenly the Doctor, followed closely by Rose, burst through the door. They stopped at in the doorway and took in the scene before jumping into action. The Doctor rushed past House who was now writhing on the floor. He swept out his screwdriver and shoved it into the tentacle that was wrapped around House's leg. A strange, multi note scream of pain was heard form the creature as it released House.

Rose rushed up to the prone doctor and tried to help him up. It took a moment before he had regained his breath and was able to actually rise. He allowed Rose to pull him farther away from the action as he did so, not wanting to be any where near that thing anymore.

"You're not welcome here anymore," the Doctor said to the creature.

"And who are you to do anything about it?" a deep multi phonic voice asked.

"I'm the Doctor and you're something that was supposed to have died a long time ago," he answered.

Even though the thing had no features, one could still tell that the thing was surprised. "Doctor?" it said.

"Yes, I can tell you've heard of me. Not surprising since it was me who wiped your people out."

By now House was standing and watching the scene with interest. He was trying to figure out why the Doctor didn't just get rid of the thing instead of stalling it. Rose noticed his confusion and whispered to him. "He doesn't know how to kill it yet."

House silently swore to himself. He thought that since the man seemed so intent on bursting into the room earlier he must have had some kind of plan to take the thing out. But apparently, this was not someone who always had a plan.

"What did you mean when you said that you ran out of a use for Wilson?" House asked.

"Gleryth's feed on the pain of others. He had nearly killed your friend extracting pain from him," the Doctor answered.

"And what's to stop me from killing you now?" the creature asked.

"Your fear of me," The Doctor said. "I nearly wiped your people out before, what's to stop _me_ from killing _you_ now?"

The creature seemed to hesitate before it suddenly screamed its horrible scream again and seemed to pour itself upward to the air vent. In a matter of seconds, it had disappeared into the vent.

"Alright, so you killed these things before, why not now?" House demanded.

"I had help before," he answered. "It's a chemical compound that another came up with. I don't remember what it was, but the formula is in the TARDIS computer."

"Tardis?" House asked.

"It's our ship," Rose explained.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" House demanded.

"Right then," The Doctor said as he passed them and headed out of the clinic. As they passed, every eye in the place was on them. Apparently, they had heard the commotion in the room.

"Sorry Barbara, hadn't scared a patient in a while, thought I was about due," House said as they passed the desk. "By the way, you were wrong, Dr. Wilson wasn't in there."

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As they hurried to the stairway, they heard a scream down the hall to the ER. They stopped and wondered what to do for a moment, and then House said, "You two go and get that formula, I'll take care of this."

"What are you going to do then?" Rose asked.

"Well it seems the only thing that we currently have against this thing is words, and I am the master at that," he said and began to head down the hall.

The Doctor and Rose watched him head towards the screams and then went down the stairs heading for the morgue once again.

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_Great idea_, House thought as he headed to the ER. He wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do, but he knew that the other two had to go and get that formula and someone had to try and keep this thing from hurting any more people. That left him. But how he hated going into something without all the information and any plan…

As he turned the corner, he saw that a few very scared security guards were aiming their guns into one of the rooms. There were a few people around who were fearfully staring into the room including all three of his team. He sighed and boldly walked into the scene.

"What's going on?" he demanded as he walked up. Nobody answered him, but Cameron pointed into the room. House looked and saw the creature in there and then he realized that Cuddy was also in the room in the far corner, staring fearfully at the thing.

As he continued to survey the scene, he realized why it was that his team and Cuddy were even down here, it was Wilson's room. The man was still out of it from the Haldol, but House could never forget the sight of his friend when he last saw him. He silently swore to himself as he signaled for the guards to lower their guns. They didn't seem to get it.

"You can't kill something liquid with bullets you idiots!" House screamed at them. He didn't even wait for the guards to lower the guns before he walked right in front of them and into the room himself.

"House!" he heard a fearful Cameron call after him. He ignored her.

"Why hello again. We just seem to keep running into each other," House said to the thing.

"Where's the Doctor?" it asked.

"Oh he's busy with patients right now, he'll be by to treat you soon," House snipped back.

"Bring me the Doctor or I will kill him" it said as it waved a gelatinous appendage at Wilson.

"Sorry pal, I'm the only doctor you get right now," he answered.

"Wrong answer," it said as it descended on Wilson. The thing engulfed the body and suddenly propelled itself out of the door, with Wilson wrapped inside. It knocked House to the ground as it rushed by and streaked down the hallway, back the direction that House had just come.

"What the hell?!" House heard Chase saying.

"Just another patient I've pissed off," House answered as he got up and followed after the creature. Nobody else seemed to be able to react to what they just saw until House had turned the corner and vanished.

Suddenly Cuddy walked out of the room and said, "Well don't just stand there! Follow him!"

Chase, Foreman and the guards raced after the creature and House but Cameron was still too shaken to react. "Wha... what just happened?" She asked Cuddy as the dean came over to her.

"I've no idea, but somehow it doesn't surprise me that House does."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

House found himself facing stairs once again. He watched the thing disappear down the stairs, heading towards the morgue. _Great_, he thought. Stairs and it's going to catch the other two before they know what to use to kill it. He sighed as began his decent.

By the time the others rounded the corner, there was no sign of either House or the creature. They didn't know which way to go.

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"Here it is!" the Doctor exclaimed as he stared at the screen in the TARDIS. "This is it, now we just have to find these and…"

Suddenly there was a crash against the door of the TARDIS. The Doctor switched his viewer from the formula to show what was outside. He saw the creature pull back a tentacle of itself and smash it into the TARDIS. The Doctor shook his head, the thing was crazy to think it was ever going to get inside. He was about to ignore it and switch back to the formula when it said, "Come out Doctor, or I'll kill him!" it said as it lifted Wilson from the floor. Luckily, the man was still unconscious, but that wasn't going to be much help for them.

The Doctor watched as the thing opened up one of the doors into the wall and pulled out an empty steel bed. It laid Wilson out on it and waited for a response. "I'm warning you Doctor, I will kill him, and I've even been nice enough to do it in a way that's easily disposable. Now come out or his blood will be on your head."

Not seeing much choice, he sighed and flipped the screen over once again to the formula. As he got up and went to the door. "What are you doing?" Rose demanded.

"I'm going out there," he answered.

"But he'll kill ya!" She answered.

"Probably. But if I don't, he definitely will kill that doctor."

"But…"

"Rose, I don't have time to debate this with you. I'll try not to get hurt, and you know how good I am at that, but I need you to stay in here, alright?"

"Doctor…" she said as tears began to well up.

He took her face in his hands and looked her in the eye for a minute. He smiled at her and bent down, gently kissing her forehead. "Oh Rose, I'm sorry. I've gotten you into so much trouble but this time I need to know that you're safe. He can't get in here, you'll be fine."

With that he released her and walked over to the door. "I'll be back soon," he said with a wink and boldly stepped out.

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"If you want to talk to me, could you at least assume some kind of solid form, the liquid stuff is annoying," The Doctor said.

The thing gave a humorless laugh as it began to pull into itself, coming together to form… the Doctor.

"Better?" he heard his own voice ask.

"Well, not exactly what I had in mind, but at least I can look you in the eye. Or would that be looking myself in the eye?"

"Admit it Doctor, you have no idea how to kill me, otherwise you already would have," it said.

"Well maybe I'm not so sure anymore that I want to completely wipe out a race," he said as he casually leaned against the TARDIS.

"Come now, we both know that you're heartless. You ruthlessly killed my people before and I'm sure you wouldn't hesitate now… if you knew how."

Just then, the Doctor saw House enter through the door. The Gleryth didn't seem to notice as his back was turned to the door. The Doctor noticed the look of confusion on House's face. He wasn't sure which one was the Doctor and which one the shape shifter.

"Well, if you're planning on killing me, like I'm sure you are, could you at least do so without looking so much like me. I hate the idea of suicide," he said.

Again, the creature laughed. "Not a problem, I can be anything that you wish. I'll at least be decent enough to allow you to choose your executioner. It switched to a vision of Rose, "perhaps your current companion… or an enemy?" it said as it became first a Slitheen then a Dalek and ended with a werewolf. "What will it be Doctor?" it growled.

Just then it howled in pain as House's cane impacted the back of its head. The Doctor leapt from his position against the TARDIS and grabbed House out of the reach of the ferocious teeth of the wolf.

He grabbed hold of the TARDIS door and threw the man inside saying, "It's on the screen. Come up with it!" and slammed the door closed as he was suddenly knocked off his feet by a swipe from a paw of the werewolf.

It slammed the outside of the TARDIS again, angered that the other creature was able to escape him once again, but that didn't matter. It still had the Doctor to deal with.

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"What's happening?" Rose demanded as the door slammed practically on House's nose.

"Where's the Formula?" House demanded as he turned around. Rose pointed to the screen. House limped over to it, he no longer had his cane, it got dropped somewhere back there when the Doctor shoved him into his… ship?

"This has got to be the strangest space ship that I have ever seen," he said as he began to study the screen.

"Oh right, and how many space ships have you seen then?"

"Good point," he said. But he was completely engulfed in the formula in front of him. He knew this, these were all things that were in the morgue! Wonder of wonders.

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"Well, now that you're done saving the day Doctor, it's time that I finish what I started," The creature said, now reverted to its liquid form again.

The Doctor, who had been lying face first on the ground, turned over, thinking that this thing was about to come after him again. But he was more horrified to see it heading for the still unconscious form of Dr. Wilson.

"You said that you wouldn't kill him if I came out!" he said as he pulled himself off the floor.

"No, I said that I would if you didn't. I never said I wouldn't if you did," the thing laughed as if reached out a tentacle to Wilson.

"What does he matter to you? It's me you want!"

The Gleryth paused and said. "And what is he to you?"

"An innocent man who has gone through more than any human should have to. You shouldn't be here. It's my fault that you're still alive and that makes his suffering my fault as well."

The creature lowered its tentacle and reassumed the Doctor's form. It spun around and glared at him. "Its your fault that my people are dead. Don't you feel guilty about that?"

For a second he was caught off guard as he thought of himself being able to say those words but he quickly shoved his self-guilt aside and answered, "Never. Your people terrorized the galaxy. You had to be stopped."

"We were feeding! We were surviving!"

"No, you could have found another way. You did find another way and you ignored it. You kept right on in your torture and killings. You are the ones who should feel guilty, not me!"

"Well, at least I can wipe your guilt from you about this man," it said as it advanced.

The Doctor began to back away, but there was nowhere to go. He was trapped, and this thing was going to kill him. At least Rose was safe.

At the thought of her, he glanced behind the advancing picture of himself, and saw the door to the TARDIS open slowly. First House, and then Rose slipped out. They had something, now it was up to him to keep the thing distracted. House signaled him that they needed to get to a shelf that was against the next wall. At their current position, the creature would be able to see them.

The Doctor turned and began to back away to the wall opposite where House and Rose needed to get. Unfortunately, this wall was much closer and he didn't have near as far to go.

"There's no escape Doctor. Just accept the fact that you're going to die now and this will go much easier." And with that, the end of the hand elongated and resolidified into a sword.

"What, you're just going to kill me then?" The Doctor said smugly. He prayed that House and Rose would hurry, this new ploy wouldn't gain very much time. "That seems like such a waste to me."

"What?"

"Well you claim that all of your killings are for survival, then why just kill me?"

"Do you want me to make this painful? Are you asking me to make this agonizing for you?"

"No, I just thought that it all seemed wasteful," he answered and he leaned up casually against the wall. It was his way of shaking off stress, just pretend that it was just another common day event.

"I don't understand you Doctor, but just to set you mind at ease…" And it lunged in its liquid form, encasing the Doctor inside of itself. Rose watched in horror as she could make out his form through the liquid, screaming silently… He was in agony.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

House knew what the Doctor was doing, and he hoped that he would be able to finish mixing the Methanol and Ethanol in time. But then he heard Rose gasp as the rest of the room went silent.

He spun around with his syringe full of the proper mixture to see the sight that had made Rose gasp. The Doctor was inside of the thing, screaming. But now it seemed that the thing was aware of their presence, it began to advance on them.

"You again," it said. "Though your pain is nothing compared to what I can inflict, it is rather tasty," it was saying. "A constant source of food is what I found in you. It almost seems sad to let it go to waste."

"You've been feeding off of me for weeks now, haven't you?" House said as he now realized why his leg had been particularly painful lately.

"Very good. I think that I deserve one final taste before I kill you too," it said. And suddenly the tentacles were wrapped around his thigh again and waves of pain pulled him to the ground. He could here Rose scream, but everything besides the pain seemed so distant. Vaguely, he knew that he held what could stop the pain, but he was having difficulty forcing his muscles to obey him.

Slowly, he raised his hand that held the syringe to the piece of the Gleryth that was wrapped around his thigh. Forcing all of his concentration on that one motion, he plunged the needle into the viscous liquid and depressed the plunger. He watched as the liquid of the syringe mixed with the thick liquid of the creature.

The thing howled in pain as it pulled away. It rushed backward, against the far wall, leaving the gasping form of the Doctor behind.

House lay on the floor, and watched as the thing began to turn from the shinny bronze that it had been to a dark brown, almost black hue. The Doctor was gasping as he tried to shake of the agony that he had just experienced. He noticed the thing; it was beginning to swell now as its howling rose in pitch.

He forced himself off the floor and took the two steps to where Wilson lay on the drawer and shoved him inside, closing the door. He nearly ran at House and Rose as he grabbed the man from the floor with one hand and took a hold of Rose's hand with the other. He pulled them out of the room and collapsed against the wall.

"What was that?" House demanded as he leaned against the wall, using it take the support off of his throbbing leg.

The howling was gathering in strength and pitch from inside the room.

"The formula…" he panted. "Causes a reaction… It's… going to… explode. It's composition has been turned… to acid."

Just then the howling suddenly stopped as brownish black liquid splashed against the inside of the door. It sizzled and began to steadily burn through.

"Wilson!" House cried as he tore open the door. The whole room was covered in the stuff. Steam was beginning to rise from the various objects that were beginning to melt.

"He's fine, for now," the Doctor said. "Lucky for us the thing put him in the drawer, I just had to close it."

House could see that the acid wasn't havening near the effect of the steel as it was on the rest of the room. Wilson would be alright until someone who could actually carry him could get to him. He stepped back from the door and collapsed onto the floor next to the Doctor.

"So, are all of your adventures like this?" he asked.

"Sometimes worse," Rose answered for him as she knelt down next to the Doctor, throwing her arms around his shoulders.

"Sounds like fun."

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"So now where are you going?" House asked as the Doctor and Rose entered the TARDIS.

"Well maybe we'll actually get to London now that you're crisis has been averted," the Doctor replied.

"Yeah, I'd say thanks for showing up, but I guess your ship had more to do with it than you."

"She says your welcome," the Doctor answered with his silly grin.

House shook his head. And backed away from the door. "Well, try and stay out of too much trouble. I think you could use a day or two off," he said.

"I agree!" Rose answered.

The Doctor smiled at her, "You knew what traveling with me would be like," he said.

"I know, and I love it. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't be nice to be able to just relax for a minute," She answered.

The Doctor couldn't help but just smiling at her before turning and waving to House. "Take care," he said. "And now you know what to do if another Gleryth shows up so hopefully I won't have to come back anytime soon."

"I thought you said that was the last one," House said.

"Well, I thought that they were already gone before that one showed up. I could be wrong," he smiled and disappeared into the TARDIS, door closing behind him.

House stood there as the light on top began to flash in time with a rumbling noise. The thing began to slowly fade from the room until it was completely gone and he was left in silence once again. He sighed and limped his way back out of the slowly disintegrating room.

As he stepped outside he heard his name, "House!" Foreman cried as he ran down the hall from the stairs he had just come down. "Where the hell have you been? What's going on?"

He sighed, this was going to be a long story and they were sure to take away his pills after this.


End file.
